On Jan. 24, 2003, a new law enforcement and investigatory agency whose duties include functions taken from as many as 22 other federal agencies came into existence. The reorganization of these operations reportedly marks the biggest government bureaucratic shake-up since the creation of the Department of Defense half a century ago.
Even before the new Department of Homeland Security opened its doors, controversies arose over not just how it would operate and exercise its powers, but what level of access to information it would allow, and how it would respond to news media requests. Will new exemptions be carved out of the FOI Act, either by law or by practice? Will officials and agents feel free to tap phones of journalists, or subpoena their records during investigations? Will the new director consider procedural safeguards, like those adopted years ago by the Department of Justice, to ensure that freedom of the press will not be denied? And will those practices be followed?

But "homeland" security is not the only concern for journalists covering anti-terrorism initiatives; military actions abroad often present a greater challenge, as questions over disclosure of information, access to troops, and restraints on reporting seem to resurface anew with each conflict.

Questions and issues like these led the Reporters Committee to launch this "weblog," so that there will be a centralized site on the Internet for journalists who want to follow these issues and pass along information they learn while covering — or worse, being covered by — the new department and other anti-terrorism actions. Please submit comments and pass along tips to make this project as useful, thorough and up-to-date as possible.

A few words about what this project will not do. We do not intend to cover many of the issues that will undoubtedly come up as the Department takes shape, even if those issues are the ones generating headlines. We will cover information access and free press issues, but will not follow debates over many civil liberties issues that, while important, are outside of our domain.

Funding for the launch of this site was provided by The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation.

Apr. 28, 2006

SPECTER AMENDMENT TO BLOCK FUNDS FOR NSA PROGRAM. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) filed an amendment to a spending bill Thursday that would enact a "prohibition on use of funds for domestic electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes unless Congress is kept fully and currently informed," The Washington Post reports. Specter told the Post that threatening to close the purse could help elevate the public consciousness as to the serious controversy surrounding the domestic spying issue. "Institutionally, the presidency is walking all over Congress at the moment," Specter said. — Posted at 10:57 am

460 PRISONERS ABUSED, TORTURED OR KILLED BY U.S. A report by three human rights groups finds that U.S. troops and government civilians in Iraq, Afghanaistan and Guantanamo Bay had abused, tortured or killed at least 460 prisoners, Free Press News Services reports. A Pentagon spokesman told the Free Press that the Defense Department had investigated more than 600 allegations of abuse and held more than 250 service members responsible. — Posted at 10:55 am

Apr. 27, 2006

ROVE TESTIFIES BEFORE GRAND JURY. Karl Rove, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, testified for the fifth time before a grand jury yesterday with regard to his possible role in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. According to the Washington Post, his testimony focused "on his conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper in 2003" and whether he "tried to conceal it." Rove's lawyer, Robert B. Luskin, said that Rove "is not a target in the investigation," according to The New York Times. — Posted at 11:10 am

Apr. 26, 2006

FITZGERALD MEETS WITH GRAND JURY; ROVE TESTIFIES AGAIN. Today, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, charged with investigating the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, made what is believed to be only his second trip before the second grand jury, according to MSNBC. The Associated Press reports that presidential aide Karl Rove is expected to make his fifth appearance before the grand jury today. — Posted at 12:18 pm

MCCARTHY UNLIKELY TO FACE CHARGES. According to sources in the intelligence community, fired CIA employee Mary McCarthy is unlikely to be charged with a crime, in part because her polygraph results would "not be admissible as evidence and that she was accused of leaking secrets the government would be reluctant to air in court," according to the Los Angeles Times. In addition, "associates" of McCarthy say "the CIA authorized McCarthy on a number of occasions to talk with reporters," although it is unclear whether this was allowed when CIA Director Porter Goss took over in 2004, according to ABC News. — Posted at 11:53 am

CANADA HALTS ACCESS TO FALLEN SOLDIERS. The Canadian public will no longer have access to images of the flag-draped coffins of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and is closing off access to the airfields when bodies of these soldiers are returned. This permanent policy is similar to a policy the Bush administration attempted - and failed at - with American flag-draped coffins. The Canadian government previously issued an order to stop lowering the flag to half-staff to mark soldiers' deaths. — Posted at 11:52 am

Apr. 25, 2006

GOERGIA STUDENT HELD IN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION ON TERRORISM CHARGES. A grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday reveals that Georgia Tech student Syed Haris Ahmed is being charged for providing material support and resources for terrorism. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel M. Feldman ordered Ahmed be detained pending trial, and he is being "detained in facilities regularly used by the United States Marshals Service to detain pre-trial federal defendants." A press release from U.S. Attorney David A. Nahmias says that the "location is not being made public because of the nature of the case." Ahmed's sister says he told her that federal authorities found a video of a building on the Internet and traced it to him, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. — Posted at 11:59 am

FIRED CIA EMPLOYEE DENIES LEAKING. Ty Cobb, a lawyer hired by Mary McCarthy, the former CIA official who was fired by the CIA last week for allegedly leaking classified information to the press, said "his client had never been granted access to the information she was accused of leaking," according to The New York Times. McCarthy has been accused of giving Washington Post reporter Dana Priest "classified information about any secret dentention centers in Europe," according to the Post. McCarthy was fired after allegedly failing a polygraph test given by the CIA, but according to Cobb, she was "deceptive" on a polygraph question in that "she had failed to report contacts with Washington Post reporter Dana Priest and at least one other reporter," according to Newsweek. — Posted at 10:41 am

Apr. 24, 2006

ASSERTIONS THAT MORE WARNINGS DENOUNCING WMD REPORTS WENT UNHEEDED. A former CIA chief says the White House disregarded intelligence from a "high and credible source" who claimed Iraq had no active programs for weapons of mass destruction, The Associated Press reported. Tyler Drumheller, who retired as chief of the CIA's European operation last year, told CBS's "60 Minutes" about the exchange between intelligence officials and President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other officials. And we said, 'Well, what about the intel?' And they said, 'Well, this isn't about intel anymore. This is about regime change.'" — Posted at 4:07 pm

PENTAGON WILL RELEASE SURVEILLANCE INFO ON GAY GROUPS. Information related to domestic surveillance of gay rights organizations protesting military recruiting will be released under the Freedom of Information Act by the Pentagon and the Justice Department, United Press International reported. Kept as part of the Defense Department's terrorist-threat database "TALON," the information must be released in a response by the Defense Intelligence Agency by April 27, 2006. — Posted at 2:13 pm

I SPY . . . INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR DISCLOSES NUMBER OF U.S. SPIES. Relaying previously secret information, John Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, announced that nearly 100,000 people work for the government to steal secrets and analyze national security information, The New York Times reported. This figure comes on the heels of another previously secret number - the budget for intelligence agencies, which came to $44 billion last year. — Posted at 2:12 pm

FALLOUT FROM CIA FIRING LEAKER. The CIA on Friday fired officer and Africa specialist Mary McCarthy for leaking information to Washington Post reporter Dana Priest about alleged secret CIA-run prisons in Eastern Europe after McCarthy alleged failed a polygraph test, the Post reported. The firing of McCarthy, who, according to The New York Times , was responsible for "guarding some of the nations' most important secrets," has almost immediately become a politcial fight as Democrats compared Republican reaction to McCarthy's leak versus Republican reaction to the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame. On ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), said that with McCarthy, "you have somebody being fired from the CIA for allegedly telling the truth, and you have no one fired from the White House for revealing a CIA agent in order to support a lie," according to the Post . — Posted at 10:25 am

Apr. 21, 2006

CIA FIRES LEAKER. The CIA fired the person who leaked classified information to the Washington Post's Dana Priest about the CIA's alleged secret prisons in Eastern Europe, according to the Post. The person "flunked a polygraph exam" and is "now under investigation by the Justice Department," according to MSNBC. The source had "more than a dozen unathorized contacts" with Priest and they may have discussed information other than the prisons, according to MSNBC. — Posted at 11:17 pm

Apr. 20, 2006

FITZGERALD KNOWS WHO OUTED PLAME, NOVAK SAYS. According to Robert Novak, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald knows who outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, but "hasn't acted on the information because Novak's source committed no crime," according to the Chicago Sun-Times . — Posted at 5:42 pm

PENTAGON RELEASES MOST EXTENSIVE LIST OF GITMO DETAINEES. Names and nationalities of 558 detainees who have been held at the U.S. run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were released under a federal court order as the first comprehensive list of persons held there, The Associated Press reported. The list shows the detainees come from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and 39 other countries and most have been held for more than four years. One detainee on the list is Mohammed al-Qahtani from Saudi Arabia who was reportedly supposed to be the 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks, the AP reported. — Posted at 5:41 pm

Apr. 19, 2006

NEW ORGANIZATIONS ATTEMPT TO QUASH SUBPOENAS IN LIBBY CASE Lawyers for media organizations filed motions in federal court on Tuesday to "quash subpoenas for interview notes, drafts of articles and other records" sought by I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, in the CIA leak case, according to The New York Times. NBC News, The New York Times, and Time Magazine filed separate briefs which argued that the information sought by Libby was "irrelevant to the specific charges of perjury and obstruction" brought against Libby, according to the Times. Libby's lawyers had also subpoenaed the notes of Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, and the Post complied with the subpoena and turned over "the complete verson of Bob Woodward's memo of his interview" with Libby, according to the Times. — Posted at 10:46 am

F.B.I. SEEKS REPORTER\'S NOTES AND FILES. The family of late newspaper columnist and investigative journalist Jack Anderson, who wrote for the "Washington Merry-Go-Round," has refused to allow the FBI to search 188 boxes of Anderson's files, according to The New York Times. The FBI is looking "evidence in the prosecution of two pro-Isreal lobbyists, as well as any classified documents Anderson had collected," according to the Washington Post . Anderson's son, Kevin Anderson, said he thought the Israel-lobbyist case was "a pretext for a broader search," as the FBI has said they needed to search all of Anderson's files and would be "duty-bound" to take any classified material in any subject, according to the Times. — Posted at 10:33 am

Apr. 18, 2006

GAO REPORTS ON SBU DESIGNATIONS. The Government Accountability Office reviewed agencies' usage of "sensitive but unclassified" designations, finding 56 different incarnations of the marking - 16 of which can be found within a single agency. The report pointed out the lack of "governmentwide policies or procedures that describe the basis on which an agency should assign a given designation and ensure tha tit will be used consistently from one agency to another." — Posted at 4:53 pm

PENTAGON ASKS FOR WMD FOIA EXEMPTION. The Defense Department wants a blanket exemption under the Freedom of Information Act for unclassified information related to weapons of mass destruction. The broad legislation would cover a variety of information, including "formulas and design descriptions of lethal and incapacitating materials; maps, designs, security/emergency response plans, and vulnerability assessments for facilities containing weapons of mass destruction materials." — Posted at 4:51 pm

EITHER FOR US OR AGAINST US. Editor & Publisher reports that in a radio interview with Rush Limbaugh Monday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked why fewer reporters are embedding. Rumsfeld said that he talked to one journalist and "there was a kind of impression left that 'Well, if you got embedded then you were really part of the problem instead of part of the solution and you were almost going over to the other side,' argument. I think that's an inexcusable thought." — Posted at 3:11 pm

CIA SEEKS TO END CASE INVOLVING CLASSIFIED INFO. CIA attorneys argued yesterday in New York federal court that Judge Laura Taylor Swain should dismiss a case brought by a former covert operative's wife, saying that all the vital information in the suit was highly classified and could not be disclosed to the woman or her lawyers, the New York Times reports. The plaintiff's attorney, however, criticized the government's use of the state secrets privilege, telling Swain that, "What they are trying to do is strangle my ability to represent these clients." — Posted at 2:58 pm

TWO PULITZERS GO TO REPORTS BUSH TRIED TO STIFLE. The Pulitzer board honored two reports yesterday that President George W. Bush urged editors not to publish,The Washington Post reports - one to the Post 's Dana Priest for exposing the CIA's use of secret prisons in Eastern Europe, and one to the New York Times' James Risen and Eric Lichtblau for revealing President Bush's secret domestic surveillance program. — Posted at 2:21 pm

ARCHIVIST DECLARES TRANSPARENCY FOR FUTURE RECLASSIFICATION EFFORTS. Following the revelation that for seven years, tens of thousands of documents previously available in the National Archives have been "reclassified" as secret, Archivist Allen Weinstein declassified a second memorandum related to the "re-review" of some of these records. Weinstein said in a release that similar memos "will soon be replaced by thoroughly transparent standards governing the review of previously declassified records that have been available for research at the National Archives." — Posted at 11:07 am

Apr. 17, 2006

CARROLL KIDNAPPERS DEMANDED $8 MILLION, ABC NEWS REPORTS. In an exclusive interview with ABC News, the man behind journalist Jill Carroll's release says that her kidnappers demanded an $8 million ransom. Sheikh Sattam al-Gaaod, one of three people specifically thanked by the Carroll family after her release, told ABC that instead of the ransom, at the kidnappers' request, he agreed to arrange payment to widows and orphans. Carroll's employer, The Christian Science Monitor, said it was unaware of any ransom payment paid by anyone. — Posted at 4:12 pm

Apr. 13, 2006

LIBRARIANS WIN DISPUTE OVER USA PATRIOT ACT. Federal prosecutors allowed the Library Connection of Windsor, Conn., to "identify itself as the recipient of a secret F.B.I. demand for records in a counterterrorism investigation," according to The New York Times. The librarians had received a "national security letter" which "ordered them to turn over patron records and e-mail messages," according to the Times. According to lawyers for the Justice Department, the USA Patriot Act required that the librarians could not disclose that they were under investigation and that the government "would suffer irreparable harm" if the investigation became known, according to the Times . — Posted at 4:29 pm

LIBBY SAYS HE WASN\'T ORDERED TO LEAK NAMES. According his grand jury testimony, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby "did not assert that President Bush or Vice President Cheney instructed him to disclose the name of CIA officier Valerie Plame to reporters as part of an effort to rebut criticism of the Iraq war," Libby's lawyers said in a court filing late yesterday, according to the Washington Post. Libby testified two years ago in special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into the leak of Plame's identity to the media. — Posted at 1:37 pm

THE TRIAL OF AN IRAQI CAMERAMAN. Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, a cameraman working for CBS News last year when he was shot and detained for nearly a year in U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison, leaves a legacy for other journalists, according to a CBS news blog: a new military rule that journalists in custody in Iraq will be treated as "almost unique" cases with charges against them addressed swiftly. The blog documents Hussein's trial last week: Hussein came into court wearing a yellow jumpsuit. When he wasn't on the witness stand, he was made to kneel on the floor in the back of the courtroom, facing a wall, near six American soldiers clad in body armor. A large crowd watched the proceedings. Normally Iraqi trials take ten or fifteen minutes, but the presiding three-judge panel knew this one was under intense scrutiny, and it lasted over an hour. The news was good for Hussein: The Iraqi attorney general, whose job it was to prosecute Hussein, said there was no evidence to support the prosecution. He was cleared. He was not free, however. — Posted at 11:10 am

LIBBY\'S LAWYERS WANT BROAD ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS. Due to the prosecution's efforts to explain the roles of President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in "disclosing prewar intelligence on Iraq," lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby have argued that they are "entitled to a broad array of classified documents," according to The New York Times story about Libby's court filing late Wednesday. By bringing up these actions, Libby's lawyers said, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald had "effectively conceded that the case extends far beyond Mr. Libby," according to the Times. Libby has been charged with obstruction of justice and perjury for his answers to Fitzgerald's investigation into the leaking of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame. — Posted at 10:30 am

Apr. 12, 2006

GOVERNMENT AUTHENTICATES ABU GHRAIB IMAGES. The government released one new photograph and authenticated 73 others depicting detainee abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in response to a court order obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU sued the Defense Department for the photos, as well as three videos, which the Justice Department also authenticated, and a federal court ordered the images to be released last year. The government also said it will withhold an additional 29 photographs and two videos. — Posted at 5:21 pm

ARCHIVES AGREED TO SILENTLY SEAL CIA AND DEFENSE RECORDS. The National Archives agreed to seal previously public Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Department records, keeping silent about the agencies' roles in the reclassification, an agreement released under the Freedom of Information Act shows. The Associated Press requested the agreement, a 2002 memorandum which had previously been stamped "secret," three years ago. It was made public by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. The agreement also showed that archivists were concerned about the reclassification of the documents, some more than 50 years old. — Posted at 5:20 pm

Apr. 11, 2006

HOUSE COMMITTEE VOTES TO REIGN IN SBU DESIGNATIONS. The House Government Reform Committee unanimously approved a bill calling to restrain use of "pseudo" classification designations, such as "sensitive but unclassified," and eventually eliminating them altogether. The bill, introduced by Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) and Ranking Member Henry Waxman (D-Cal.), was reported to the full House and discussed in a recent Update issued by the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government. — Posted at 3:57 pm

Apr. 10, 2006

PILOTS AND VICTIMS\' FAMILIES WANT FLIGHT 93 TAPE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL. The Allied Pilots Association (APA), Air Line Pilots Association, and families of the victims who died on United Airlines Flight 93 asked U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema Friday not to share the cockpit recording with the public when it is played for the jury at Zacarias Moussaoui's death penalty trial. "Playing the recording in closed session would clearly fulfill the requirement for a full and fair trial," argued APA President Captial Ralph Hunter. The families and crewmembers "have already suffered tremendously and public release of the tape would only sensationalize and serve no legitimate purpose." — Posted at 5:35 pm

FITZGERALD: WHITE HOUSE CAMPAIGNED TO INJURE BUSH CRITIC. Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald argued in a court filing Wednesday that President George W. Bush authorized leaks of classified Iraq intelligence as part of a "concerted action" by "multiple people in the White House" to "discredit, punish or seek revenge against" a critic of Bush's war in Iraq, several newspapers reported. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's attorney told Washington Post reporters that Fitzgerald's argument does not undermine Libby's claim that he forgot about conversations he may have had with reporters regarding Valerie Plame. — Posted at 5:34 pm

BUSH ACKNOWLEDGES AUTHORIZING INTEL DECLASSIFICATION. Responding to a prosecutor's disclosure, President George W. Bush acknowledged today that he authorized Lewis "Scooter" Libby to declassify parts of a pre-war intelligence report to respond to critics who alleged that he manipulated intelligence to justify the war, Reuters reports. "I wanted people to see what some of those statements were based on. I wanted people to see the truth. I thought it made sense for people to see the truth. That's why I declassified the document," Bush said, according to the story. Bush did not specifically order Libby to disseminate the information, an anonymous attorney told the Associated Press, but rather instructed Cheney to "get it out" and left the details to him. — Posted at 4:55 pm

GONZALES WON\'T \"RULE OUT\" WARRENTLESS DOMESTIC WIRETAPS. During an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last week, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales suggested that President Bush could order warrantless wiretaps on telephone calls occurring solely in the United States, The Washington Post reported. "I'm not going to rule it out," Gonzales said in response to a question from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). — Posted at 4:33 pm

VERMONT DEMS: ILLEGAL WIRETAPPING JUSTIFIES IMPEACHMENT. Vermont Democratic Party leaders passed a motion Saturday asking the House to pass articles of impeachment against President Bush because of engaging in illegal wiretapping and other charges, Reuters reports. Democratic state committees in Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada, and North Carolina have taken similar steps, the story says. — Posted at 4:32 pm

U.S. SHOOTING OF REUTERS MEDIA WORKER \"UNLAWFUL,\" REPORT SAYS. An independent investigation commissioned by Reuters has found the killing of a Reuters television soundman in Iraq last year "unlawful," the wire service reported. U.S. troops fired on a car in Baghdad Aug. 28, killing Waleed Khaled and wounding cameraman Haider Kadhem as they worked on a news story. A U.S. Army investigation found that the soldiers who fired acted within the rules of engagment. But The Risk Advisory Group, a risk management firm hired by Reuters to investigate, found the shooting unjustified. Reuters also reported that Kadhem's video was seized by the U.S. military and subsequently lost. — Posted at 4:28 pm

JILL CARROLL\'S FAMILY SAYS THANK YOU. CNN and the many Western and Iraqi news outlets that reported on Jill Carroll and reinforced her credentials as a journalist during her 82 days in captivity are among many individuals and groups that Carroll's family thanks in a letter of gratitude published in The Christian Science Moinitor Monday. Her parents, Jim and Mary Beth, and twin sister, Katie, write: "We cannot begin to properly thank all of the individuals and organizations who made significant efforts to free Jill. We may never be certain which steps actually led to her release. And we can never be aware of all the people who devoted their time and resources - and took risks - to find her. The most significant reward we can offer them is the picture of Jill back in the arms of her family, and the indescribable joy and relief so evident on our faces." Jill Carroll, who is spending time with her family in Boston, is unlikely to speak with the media for at least another week, a Monitor spokeswoman told Editor & Publisher Sunday. — Posted at 4:25 pm

SENATOR SAYS WHITE HOUSE NEEDS TO EXPLAIN LEAK. President Bush and Vice President Cheney should give a detailed explanation of what classified information was authorized to be leaked to reporters in July 2003 and why, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said. Former vice presidential chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has testified that Cheney told him Bush had approved to leak certain classified information from a National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. A lawyer close to the case anonymously told The Associated Press that Bush said to get the information out, but didn't specifically direct Libby to leak it. — Posted at 10:43 am

Apr. 8, 2006

LIBBY SAYS BUSH GAVE GREEN LIGHT TO DISCLOSE CLASSIFIED INFO. Former Vice Presidential Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby told a federal grand jury that President Bush authorized him to disclose information from a classified National Intelligence Estimate to former New York Times reporter Judith Miller in July 2003, The Washington Post reported. Libby also testified that he did not reveal the status of Valerie Plame as a CIA employee, the Post article stated. Libby's disclosure was an effective declassification, Secrecy News said, but with approval from the President. — Posted at 3:54 pm

MOUSSAOUI JUDGE CONSIDERS RELEASING FLIGHT 93 TAPE. Rejecting prosecutors' request to keep secret the Sept. 11 recording from United Airlines Flight 93 and a transcript of it, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said that she will release the material to the public the day after it is admitted into evidence if no family members object, The Associated Press reports. In her order, Brinkema noted the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond's recent order that particular trial evidence be made public, but added she was "mindful that family members of the flight crew or passengers on Flight 93 may object to the voices of their loved ones being publicly revealed in this manner." — Posted at 3:51 pm

LIBBY JUDGE LIMITS SECRET ARGUMENTS. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ordered that prosecutors may not deal exclusively with the judge to determine whether classified information Libby seeks is material to his defense, the Associated Press reports. "It is inappropriate and in fact unnecessary for the government to argue questions of materiality" without letting Libby's legal team know what the arguments are, Walton wrote. Libby's lawyers seek highly classified material allegedly needed to defend against five counts of perjury, objstruction and lying to the FBI. — Posted at 3:49 pm

JILL CARROLL UPDATE. Reader reaction to Jill Carroll's release continues to pour into The Christian Science Monitor, which posts a fraction of the messages on its Web site. One reader, Rich Hines of Portland, Ore., said he recently read Carroll's previous work and saw "a wonderfully talented, highly objective reporter" whose work he is looking forward to reading again. What is next for Carroll is unclear, Editor & Publisher reported. As far as The Monitor is concerned, it's up to Carroll to decide what she wants to do next, but the paper has not yet asked her. — Posted at 3:48 pm

IRAQI COURT ACQUITS CBS CAMERAMAN. An Iraqi cameraman working for CBS News and detained by U.S. troops for a year was acquitted of insurgent activity Wednesday. There was insufficient evidence to convict Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, who was filming the aftermath of a car bombing in Mosul, a three-judge panel decided. Despite the court ruling, Hussein remains in custody in Abu Ghraib prison while his attorney, Scott Horton, petitions the court for his release. Recalling his capture by U.S. forces in April 2005, Hussein said Wednesday: "All the time they were cursing me, and calling me a terrorist," he said. "I kept saying, 'I'm not a terrorist. I'm a correspondent."' — Posted at 3:47 pm

Apr. 4, 2006

MORE GITMO DOCUMENTS RELEASED. The Pentagon released an additional 2,700 pages of transcripts and other documents related to legal proceedings involving detainees at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay prison. Previously, 5,000 pages of documents were released identifying about half of the 750 detainees who have been held at the prison over the past four years. A federal court held that the information must be made public. — Posted at 4:26 pm

OUT OF CAPTIVITY, INTO THE NEWSROOM. Journalist Jill Carroll, released Thursday after being held hostage for 82 days in Iraq, visited the newsroom of The Christian Science Monitor Monday for the first time ever. A freelancer for the Monitor when she was kidnapped Jan. 7, Carroll was hired full-time one week after her abduction. The newsroom burst into applause when Carroll appeared, and she addressed colleagues in what the Monitor's Washington editor called "an emotional lovefest." Watch the video of her thanking colleagues here. The Monitor' s editor, Richard Bergenheim, issued a thank-you to U.S. government officials for their extensive efforts on Carroll's behalf. — Posted at 4:22 pm

NO REGRETS. British journalist Phil Sands, in a piece in Sunday's Washington Post, writes about what it's like to be kidnapped - snatched, bound up, blindfolded and tossed into the trunk of a car - in Iraq where he was held for several days. When one of his captors questioned whether he is really a reporter, he "instructed my captor how to Google my name on the Internet to show I was indeed a journalist." In an Internet chat with Post readers Monday, Sands said that during his ordeal, he never regretted his career choice. When I was kidnapped, when I thought I would die, I didn't regret being reporter, and I didn't regret trying to do the job properly. I felt I had taken my choice and I didn't feel terrible about that. Of course, I would rather have not been kidnapped but that was part of the risk, and I knew that. — Posted at 4:21 pm

Apr. 3, 2006

\'ALIVE AGAIN.\' American freelance journalist Jill Carroll reunited with her family Sunday after her release Thursday. "I finally feel like I am alive again," Carroll said, according to The Christian Science Monitor, the newspaper she was freelancing for when she was kidnapped in Baghdad on Jan. 7. During her last night in captivity, her captors forced her to participate in an anti-American propaganda video in which Carroll denounced the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Carroll, in a statement, said she did not speak freely. "Out of fear I said I wasn't threatened. In fact, I was threatend many times." She also said: "I was, and remain, deeply angry with the people who did this." Carroll said she wishes to be "judged as a journalist, not as a hostage." Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, said on NBC News' "Meet the Press" Sunday that Carroll did what she had to do. "We understand when you're held captive in that kind of situation that you do things under duress.... I would not take them seriously, I would not, any more than we took seriously other tapes and things that were done in other prison situations, including the Vietnam War." — Posted at 4:58 pm

Apr. 2, 2006

JUDGE SAYS SEPT. 11 VICTIMS CAN BE NAMED IN 911 CALL REQUESTS. New York City must now also provide the names of the 28 people who made 911 calls during the terror attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, in addition to recordings of the 911 operators that had already been ordered released, The Associated Press reported. The city has appealed the release, which effectively stays the order. The city previously argued for a waiver requirement from the victims' family members prior to release of the victims' portions of the recordings. — Posted at 2:04 pm

U.S. DEMANDS INFO FROM INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS. In preparation to defend the 1996 Child Online Protection Act later this year, the government has subpoenaed information from dozens of Internet service providers, Information Week magazine reported. The government demanded information from at least 35 Internet companies, including Google Inc., Comcast Corp. and EarthLink Inc. Information Week obtained copies of the subpoenas through the Freedom of Information Act. The Associated Press says it is unclear which companies are complying with the subpoenas and to what extent. — Posted at 2:01 pm

\'LIKE FALLING OFF A CLIFF FOR THREE MONTHS.\' Spending 82 days in captivity "was like falling off a cliff for three months, waiting to hit the ground," American journalist Jill Carroll told The Washington Post. Carroll, the Christian Science Monitor freelancer who was kidnapped in January, was released Thursday by the Revenge Brigade, a "shadowy and little-known group" that said it freed her because the American government had agreed to some of its conditions, The New York Times reported. Her release was shrouded in mystery, USA Today reported. Since Carroll's release, at least one of her colleagues said the controversial self-imposed media blackout during the early days of Carroll's kidnapping made a difference, Editor & Publisher reported. The Washington Post' s David Ignatius, meanwhile, says that Carroll's release makes it a good time to recognize the good work that reporters are doing every day in Iraq. — Posted at 1:58 pm